12 comments

I can imagine how your dad must’ve felt in the graveyard. Many years back, my best friend died. Before that, he had been fighting for his life in the hospital, with his family members beside him. so during the wake, his very tired family members decided to go home. So they asked who would mind staying back in the funeral parlour.

Up went my hand, thinking my other friends would also want to stay. But they all weaseled out.

Even though I don’t believe in ghosts, it was spooky, walking along dark lanes, lined with coffins – the whole area was full of funeral parlours. What was extremely unsettling was suddenly walking past cooler patches (tree-shaded paths.

Awesome. I’ve read this three times today already. So inspiring. It’s so exactly how I feel… yet as an art director it makes me feel guilty… Thinking up silly ideas all day long is not exactly a picnic in a graveyard… It’s only my fears that make it so. But then again… It’s those fears that drive me forward. Thanks again Dave for such an inspiring story. You dad is brave… and highly creative.

Natalie,
I think Dad’s (and Buddha’s) point was that whatever scares you is in your head.
We think our fears exist in the world outside our head, but they don’t.
All that exists outside our head is stuff, not good or bad.
The trick is to use our fear (as you do) but know it isn’t real

I am so impressed by your dad. And I think inspired. It never hurts to be reminded that we need to confront our fears and I just thought of some a lot less scary than dead bodies hanging in the night so I feel like I have no excuse for not dealing with them.

When I first moved to London I was working all hours.
I nearly always ended up down the tube station at midnight.
That enabled me to get a better grip on reality.
Confronting the images, the song of the same name had placed in my head.
At the time the worst tube station for crime had just been named Tooting Broadway.
The Evening Standard had a field day with it.
Fortuitously that was my home stop.
I say fortuitously because it further rammed home my suspicions that reality and storytelling were two different things.
As my dad was want to say, “Don’t always believe what you hear because it just might not be true.”

This story left me awed and tremendously impressed. I often hear/read bumper-sticker phrases to ‘face your fear’; ‘lead the life you love’ but rarely do I hear about the actions and courage it takes. I know I’d be fearful to wash off, outside, in a British winter. I’ll read this again later today. Thanks for sharing.